At noon on August 30, Doctor Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, Director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the hospital’s Adult Intensive Care and Poison Control Department is treating two cases of botulinum toxin infection.
When admitted to the hospital, both had symptoms of difficulty swallowing and could not open their mouth.
`The older sister is heavier and is awake but can only move her limbs and move her lips. The patient continues to be completely dependent on the ventilator,` said Dr. Vinh Chau.
At Cho Ray Hospital, from July 24 to 30, the Department of Tropical Diseases received five patients with ptosis and respiratory muscle paralysis due to botulinum poisoning.
Cho Ray doctors said that at noon on July 19, the couple ate Minh Chay pate together.
The remaining three patients are from 20 to 26 years old, are friends, of which two live in Dong Nai and one in Vung Tau.
Two boxes of Minh Chay pate that the patients were half-eating were taken for microbiology at the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Patients at Cho Ray Hospital are supported with mechanical ventilation, combined with plasma exchange five times every other day, vitamin B supplements, nutrition, physical therapy… By August 25, four patients were receiving treatment.
In addition to the 7 patients above, the Food Safety Department, Ministry of Health, recorded two cases of poisoning due to eating Minh Chay pate being treated at Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi.
Pate Minh Chay product of Two New Lifestyle Company Limited.
The product was found to contain bacteria that causes poisoning.
Botulinum is a toxin that affects the nerves, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum during development.
Patients can become poisoned after 12-36 hours, or even longer, if they eat contaminated foods.
Botulinum poisoning is an extremely dangerous disease.
In addition to entering the body through food and drink, Clostridium botulinum spores can also enter through skin wounds that are not kept clean.
Particularly for children, in the intestinal tract of infants, these bacterial spores can also grow even if they eat uncanned food contaminated with spores, causing poisoning.
